Misfortune never comes alone. Not only does a crowd of aggressive refugees continue to storm the Gates on Earth, but during an interplanetary summit one of the diplomats is also murdered. The investigation is assigned to Detective Rasek, who finds himself in a very delicate situation. First, he is terrified of the Gate Effect—so moving from planet to planet is a brutal ordeal for him. And second, the main suspect is the detective’s Earth friend, whose innocence he still has to prove.